9 comments:

An excellent puzzle, but I think Pamela is pulling our chain. Most of us veteran solvers are always cussing out the overuse of SST in puzzle constructions, so she proceeds to pepper the entire grid with SST’s. Okay Pam, now you got us DOPES all IN A LATHER.

All is forgiven though, because you used the perfect clue for SOS (95D)… ABBA’s song in Mamma Mia. Here’s a clip of my heart throb of years past, Agnetha Fältskog singing SOS. What a doll!

In this day and age, the alternative to a Dish is a TV CABLE, surely not a TV ANTENNA.

For me, solving any Sunday puzzle in less than 40 minutes is good… today I did it… and without consulting my Uncle Google either.

Take one of the most overused answer's ever, SST, and hide it in the themes. Works for me!

@Van55, I hope this didn't cause you to slit your wrists!

Always great to see our new 'best friend' Nikola TESLA.

SANIBEL and Captiva Islands, here on the W.Coast of Florida is considered the 3rd BEST place to go 'shelling' in the world.I've been a regular visitor there for over 55 years. Yup, started as a tyke of 3yo.Very laid back, beautiful beaches (like my Pinellas beaches, NO OIL during this whole mess).Perfect place to get away and re-charge the soul.Excellent spot for a sunset Toast!Florida at it's best!

I only know Jewish months from xwords. ADAR seems to be the one used most often and is now a gimmie.ATEST for the A-Bomb thingy also falls into my 'only know this term from xwords' category.

AIN River, I think this is the first time I have seen it here. Hey that makes it a Sunday learning moment! (Always a plus but rare for the "day-of-the-week").

Very interesting. Take a loathed crosswordese 101 answer and turn it into a theme. I liked it. 113A: (Ball Role) Why is my hand so fast at writing in LUCY? Damn, that royally screwed me in that section. I finally got it, but no longer will I be tricked by that. Only minor gripe I really don't like homonyms in a puzzle even if it is legal. EDYS EDIE PIES PYE

@JNH There is not a chance I'm going to click that link as long as it has to do with ABBA. I told my son I would disown him if he ever went to see that movie. (I hope he knows I was kidding.) CHEERS!

@ddbmcThere was a lot of tension here.Some canceled their vacations.I even noticed a local BP Station changed to Exxon."F***ing BP" is now considered a cuss word in the Tampa Bay area!To date (knock on wood!) not ONE SINGLE DROP of OIL has hit the beaches from Tarpon Springs on South here on the West Coast of Florida.As pristine as you please ...

As for that Devil's playground, I only gave in to RINK because Hedonism II, Negril, Jamaica wouldn't fit.

Sliding the SSTs into the theme answers didn't bother me at all. While it's not a particularly inventive or difficult thematic trick, it's in no way worse than dropping the R from movie titles or adding some other random letter. And the reveal answer was not stuck maddeningly lazily at the ends of three other answers

What did irk me a bit about this puzzle was the plethora of obscure to semi-obscure proper names -- 37 of them if I counted correctly.